The Law of God, Part 3

Lord, thank you for tonight. We are grateful for a chance to

be here. Thank you for your word.

Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity we have to study it

together. We are a blessed people and so

we just pray that you'd open our hearts and minds tonight to see

the beauty of our Lord in Jesus name, Amen.

All right, if you get your Bible, Matthew chapter 5,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 5, and we are looking at what Christ's view of

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Scripture and the law really is. So I'm going to begin this way.

Whatever Christ says about the law, whatever His view on the

law is, should be the same as our view on the law.

We don't want to have an opposing view of the law that

opposes Christ's view of the law that He gave.

And so Matthew 5 verses 17 to 20 gives us His view on the law.

Matthew 5:17–20

Now this is very important. Why?

Because Christ, whatever you understand about verses 17 to

20, will set the tone for the rest of the sermon.

So if you miss what happens here and what he says here, you'll

play catch up throughout the rest of the sermon because

everything about what Christ believes concerning the word of

God, He's going to tell us. We've already looked at the

brilliance of the law. We spent time in Psalm 19, Psalm

119, looking at the excellence and the magnificence of the law.

But tonight we're going to look at the importance of the law,

the endurance of the law, and then the relevance of the law.

Let me read it to you, Matthew 5, verse 17.

Matthew 5:17

Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets.

I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not

the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law, until

all is accomplished. Whoever then knows one of the

least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same,

shall be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.

But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great

in the Kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless

your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and

Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven on Sunday.

I quoted to you Proverbs 29 verse #18 which says that

without a vision the people perish.

The literal translation is that without a revelation, the people

are unrestrained. They're out of control.

In other words, vision comes from the revelation of God.

What does God say that gives you an accurate view of life?

But without the revelation of God, the people are

unrestrained, because the revelation of God is filled with

nothing but absolutes. It's the truth.

It's the only truth. And without that truth you don't

have parameters. Without that truth, you have no

guidelines. Without that truth, you have no

direction. Without that truth, you really

have nothing. So Solomon makes it very clear

that without a revelation the people are out of control.

They don't know what to say, they don't know what to do, they

don't know where to go. And then he says, But happy is

the man who keeps the law. The blessed man is the one who

keeps the law, who practices the law, who lives the law.

Now, having said that, turn to Proverbs chapter 13.

Proverbs 13 · chapter mention

Proverbs 13 verse #13 Solomon says this.

The one who despises the word will be in debt to it, but the

one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

This verse is a summation of Matthew 517 to 20.

This verse is very, very important.

Psalmist says he who despises the word, he who looks down upon

the word, he who has nothing but disgust or disregard or who

wants to disobey the word, will be in debt to it, will be held

accountable to it, will be destroyed or disciplined by it.

So if you despise the word of God, if you look down upon the

word of God, treat it as if it means nothing, you will be

disciplined by the word of God, because you are in debt to the

authority of the truth of the revelation of God.

But then he says, But the one who fears the commandment, that

man will be rewarded. The one who reveres the

commandment, the one who respects the commandment,

receives the reward. But the one who despises the

commandment, who disregards the commandment, will be disciplined

or destroyed by that word. Having said that, Solomon says

in Proverbs 29 verse #1 these words, A man who hardens his

neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond

remedy. He hards his neck after much

reproof. How does one receive reproof?

Well, the Bible says that all Scripture is inspired by God and

it's profitable for doctrine and reproof.

In other words, Scripture is that which reproves you.

Scripture is that which turns your life around, that calls you

into account. But he who hardens his neck, who

stiffens his neck, who becomes very calloused and cold in heart

after much reproof, will be broken beyond remedy.

Let me illustrate that for you by having you turn to the last

book of the Hebrew Bible. That's not Malachi.

The last book of the Hebrew Bible is the book of Second

Chronicles. So turn to second chronicles

2 Chronicles 36 · chapter mention

chapter 36. The Hebrew Bible ends with the

destruction of the temple on the temple mount.

So in the Hebrew Bible second chronicles 36 is the last book,

the last chapter in their Bible. OK, this is the illustration of

Proverbs 1313 and Proverbs 29 verse #1 The one who would

despise the word of God, the one who would disregard the word of

God, after much reproof will be broken beyond the remedy.

Bible says the verse 11, The Second Chronicles 36.

Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king, and he reigned

11 years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the

Lord his God. He did not humble himself before

Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the Lord.

He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him

swear allegiance by God, but he stiffened his neck and he

hardened his heart. That's Proverbs 29 verse #1

against turning to the Lord God of Israel.

Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people

were very unfaithful, following all the abominations of the

nations, and they defiled the House of the Lord, which He had

sanctified in Jerusalem. The Lord, the God of their

Father, sent word to them again and again by His messengers,

because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling

place. But they continually mocked the

messengers of God and despised His Word.

The one who despises the Word Proverbs 13 will be in debt to

it. And they scoffed at His prophets

until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until

there was no remedy. Proverbs 29 verse #1 So there

was this constant compassion by God to send forth his

messengers, to send forth his prophets, to speak the truth, to

speak the Word, to give the revelation of God, so that man

would turn from his sin. But Zedekiah and others stiffen,

their neck harden. Their hearts became very

calloused to the revelation of God, so much so they would

despise the Word of God. Thus they became indebted to the

Word of God and therefore were broken beyond remedy.

It is so important to realize that God's Word is everything.

God's Word is absolute truth and our response to that is crucial.

Your response to that is crucial.

My response to that is crucial. When you hear it preached, when

you hear it taught, when you hear it given to you, what is

your response? Do you Revere it?

Do you respect it? Because if you do, Solomon says

you will be rewarded. But but if you despise it, if

you disregard it, you will be in debt to it, you will be

disciplined by it, you will be destroyed by it.

So the question comes, what is your response to the word of

God, especially when you recognize and understand what

Christ says about his very own words?

What is Christ's view of his law?

That should be our view of the law.

What is Christ's view of his word?

How does he see it? So last week we talked to you

about the brilliance of the law that for for two weeks we talked

about that, but we just scratched the surface, the tip

of the iceberg when it comes to the magnificence and the

excellence and the brilliance of the law of God, because it's

everything. It is your life.

Tonight we want to move on to the importance of that law, the

endurance of that law, and the relevance of that law.

So let's begin with the importance in Matthew 5 verse

#17 which says these words do not think, stop right there, do

not think doesn't mean you're not supposed to think.

But he says, do not think that I came to abolish the law of the

prophets. Why would he say that?

Because that's what they were thinking.

That's what they were thinking. Don't you think God knows what

you're thinking? Of course he does.

I love that because I don't need to know what you're thinking.

But God already knows what you're thinking at this very

moment. He knows that some of you are

thinking about what's for dinner after Bible study.

Some of you are already thinking about tomorrow when the Bible

says take no thought about tomorrow, but you're thinking

about it anyway. But God knows that, right?

God knows everything. And so he knows they're thinking

about what he has just said and what he's going to say.

Why would they be thinking that? Because never a man spoke like

this man spoke. Here is Jesus, and Jesus never

once quoted A rabbi, never once quoted A scribe.

He would speak as if he was the authoritative one, which of

course he is. And they didn't know what he

believed about the law. They didn't know if he was anti

law, anti Moses. They didn't know if he was anti

Israel. They didn't know what kind of

prophet he was, because when he spoke, he didn't speak like

anybody else spoke. In fact, he was a different kind

of man all together. He didn't even hang out with the

religious establishment. He hung out with the riffraff,

hung out with the prostitutes, tax gatherers, sinners.

So he didn't even hang out with the religious elite, the

Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees.

He was a different kind of man altogether.

So he comes and he begins to preach on the north slopes of

the Sea of Galilee. And as he's preaching, he's

saying he's saying things they've never heard before.

He begins with blessing, and they all want to be blessed, but

the way he says it and how he couches blessing is completely

different than what they've ever heard before.

So they're thinking, who is this guy?

Where is he from? Does he really believe in the in

the law of the Old Testament? Because all they had was the Old

Testament. They didn't have a New

Testament, wasn't written yet. So all they had was the 39 books

of the Old Testament. So they're thinking what, what

does he think about the law? What's he think about Moses?

What's he think about the Pentateuch?

Because when he speaks, he speaks completely different than

anybody they've ever heard before.

So he's already gone through the Beatitudes.

He's talked to them about salt and light.

And before he gets into really him hammering them about what

they think they believe as opposed to what God says they

should believe, He wants to let them know that I didn't come to

abolish the law of the Prophets. No, no, I've come to fulfill

everything. Now in His fulfilling

everything, He is the embodiment of the Old Testament.

Sometimes we forget this. Did he fulfill it by what He

said? Yes.

Did he fulfill it prophetically? Yes.

Did he fulfill the promises? Yes.

But He is the fulfillment of everything in the Old Testament.

So the the importance of the law is seen.

Number one is that it was established by God himself.

Remember back in in the Exodus chapter 20, when he gave the 10

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

commandments, it says then God spoke all these words.

The law of God is established by God.

These are his words. This is what he wants to

communicate. So when he talks about

fulfilling the law, he he is not talking about the rabbinical

tradition, he's not talking about the the oral scribal

tradition. He is speaking about his very

words in fact, over in in Matthew chapter 15 he says this

Matthew 15 · chapter mention

verse 3. Why do you yourselves transgress

the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition.

You see the the Pharisees and the scribes realize that they

were unable to keep the law of God.

So they they came up with man made traditions and man made

rituals and man made commandments that would allow

them to keep certain portions of the law.

That made them feel good about themselves because they could

dilute the law and make it applicable to their own lives so

that they would feel good about themselves.

And Christ always condemned them for that.

Christ would speak against them because they had devalued His

word. In fact, as Proverbs 1313 says,

they despise the word. They disregarded the word.

Now they are in debt to that word.

They will be disciplined and destroyed by that word because

they have degraded the authority of the law of God.

But the man who fears the commandment, Oh no, he'll be

rewarded. He'll be rewarded greatly.

And so he addresses that and says, I'm not talking about the

traditions of men. I'm talking about the law that I

have authored. Now he says the law of the

prophets, That phrase is used 12 times in the New Testament, and

every time it's used, it refers to the Scriptures.

It's a synonym for the Scriptures, a synonym for the

word of God, a synonym for the law of God.

In other words, he's speaking about the whole Testament, not

just portions of the Old Testament, but the whole Old

Testament. In fact, in the book of

Deuteronomy, Let's do what Moses says.

Moses says in chapter 30 verse #15 of Deuteronomy.

See, I have set before you today life and prosperity and death

and adversity, and that I command you today to love the

Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His

commandments and the statutes and His judgments, that you may

live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in

the land where you are entering to possess it.

But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn

away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you

today that you shall surely perish.

You will not prolong your days in the land where you are

crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I

have set before you life and death, the blessing and the

curse. So choose life in order that you

may live, you and your descendants.

How? By loving the Lord your God, by

obeying his voice and by holding fast to him.

For this is your life and the length of your days that you may

live in the land which the Lord swore to your father's to

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give them.

So Moses is saying, look, these words that I have written, these

words that I've spoken, these words that God's given to us,

the, the first five books of the law, the Pentateuch, because

that's what he had, he had written, says you, you keep

these, you will live. If you disobey them, then you'll

be destroyed, you'll perish again.

Proverbs 1313, The one who despises the word will be in

debt to it, but the one who who fears the commandment, who

respects it and reveres it, they will be rewarded.

So Solomon sums up in one word what Moses says in Deuteronomy

30, what Christ says in Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Because everything is about the law of the living God.

Remember the rich man in Lazarus, rich man was in Hades

and he wanted someone to dip their finger in cold water just

to touch his tongue because he was he was burning up, right?

And he says, he says, send someone back to tell my

brothers, because if someone comes back from the dead, my

brothers will believe. And Abraham said they have Moses

and the prophets. If they don't believe them, they

will not believe the one be raised from the dead.

No miracle ever saved anybody. It's only the message of the

truth, the message of the revelation of God.

It speaks to the power of the Word of God.

If they don't believe what Moses said, if they don't believe what

the law says, if they don't believe what the prophets have

already said, if they don't believe that, then someone being

raised from the dead makes no difference whatsoever, because

the proof is in the authority and revelation of the law of

God. Very, very important.

And so this law was established by God himself.

Now understand this, that there are three categories of the law

in the Old Testament. There is the judicial law, the

moral law, and the ceremonial law.

So let me explain to you very simply how you distinguish

between them all, OK. The judicial law deals with the

identity of God's people. The moral law, the 10

commandments deal with the purity of God's people, and the

ceremonial law deals with the priority of God's people because

that was how they were to worship.

Make sense? The judicial law was given to

define the identity of God's people.

He gave them laws about what to wear.

He gave them laws about what to eat.

He gave them laws and how to cook what they eat.

What? Because Israel was to be

uniquely and distinctly separate from the world, and therefore He

gave them they the judicial law or the civil laws.

Then He gave them ceremonial laws to govern how they

worshipped right? This was their priority.

Their priority was always to worship their God.

They should have no other gods before them.

They were always one that when you go into the land, you don't

worship their gods, you don't serve their gods, you serve your

God. This is your priority.

Then he gave them the moral law, the 10 Commandments, because

that was the focus of their purity, their holiness.

Why? Because the 10 Commandments are

the reflection of the personality and the purity and

the holiness of God. They are, and so He wants them

to be as holy as He Himself is holy.

So the moral law identifies the purity of the people of God.

Now listen, the moral law was the backing behind the judicial

law and the ceremonial law. Because the moral law defined

for us the character of God, and the judicial law was given and

the ceremonial law was given to keep and to help Israel stay

focused on the moral law. Because he is so pure and so

holy, I want to worship only him, honor only Him.

Because he is so pure and so holy, I want to only identify

with him and no one else. That makes sense.

So Christ says don't think, because I know you're thinking

this, don't think that I came to abolish the law of the prophets.

Oh no, On the contrary, I came to fulfill all of that.

I came to fulfill the judicial law, the ceremonial law.

I came to fulfill the moral law. And he did, because everything

about the Old Testament is all about Christ the Redeemer, the

Deliverer. And so not only was was the law

established by God, but it was enforced by the prophets.

They were always calling the people back to God.

They were always telling them, listen, you got to live a holy

life. Listen, you got to worship the

the one true God. You have to identify with the

one true God. And so the prophets were always

given, like we read in Second Chronicles 36, God's compassion

sent messenger, sent prophet after prophet, messenger after

messenger to say, listen, you need to turn back to God because

that's what the prophets did. They called people to repentance

and they would tell them if you obey, you will live.

If you disobey, you will die. In fact, listen to what Isaiah

says. Isaiah chapter one verse #18

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord.

Though your sins are a scarlet, they will be as white as snow.

Though they are red like Crimson, they will be like wool.

If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.

Proverbs 1313 If you despise the word, you'll be destroyed by it.

But if you fear the commandment and respect it, you'll be

rewarded. And then he says, Truly the

mouth of the Lord has spoken. That's why the prophets would

say, Thus sayeth the Lord, The mouth of the Lord has spoken.

The word of the Lord came to me and said, Why?

Because they were the mouthpiece of God to the people.

And so that which was established by God was enforced

by the prophets, and that which was enforced by the prophets was

endorsed by Christ. I came to fulfill the law five

times in the New Testament. It speaks of Christ's fulfilment

of the Law, because the Law was all about Him.

Remember we read this last week over in Luke's Gospel, the 24th

chapter. Christ says, O foolish men, and

slow of heart, to believe in all, not some all that the

prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the

Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory?

Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he

explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the

Scripture. Not some of the Scripture, but

all the Scripture He reiterates in verse 44.

He says, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was

still with you, that all things which are written about me in

the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be

fulfilled. All that was written about me.

Why? Because everything in the Old

Testament was all about the Christ.

That's why in John 5 verse #39 and we'll get there in a couple

of months. But in John chapter 5 verse #39

John 5 · chapter mention

he says what you search the Scriptures for, and then you

think you have eternal life. But these are they which speak

of me. In other words, here you are

students of the Bible, and you're looking to find eternal

life, and yet you miss me. How do you miss me?

The author of life? But they did, you see, they

missed the Messiah. They missed the Christ because

He is everything. There was an anonymous poem

which was written years ago about how Jesus Christ is the

theme of the Bible. This is what it says.

I find my Lord in the Bible wherever I chance to look.

He is the name of the Bible, the center and heart of the Book.

He is the Rose of Sharon. He is the Lily Fair.

Wherever I open my Bible, the Lord of the Book is there.

He, at the books beginning, gave to the earth its form.

He is the ark of shelter, bearing the brunt of the storm,

the burning Bush of the desert, the budding of Aaron's rod.

Wherever I look in the Bible, I see the Son of God, the ram upon

Mount Moriah, the ladder from earth to sky, the scarlet cord

in the window and the serpent lifted high, the smitten rocked

in the desert, the shepherd with staff and crook.

The face of my Lord, I discover wherever I open the book.

He is a seat of the woman, the Savior, Virgin born.

He is a son of David, who men rejected with scorn his garments

of grace and a beauty, the stately Aaron Deck.

Yet he is a priest forever, for he is Melchizedek, Lord of

eternal glory, whom John the Apostle saw light of the golden

city. Lamb without spot or flaw.

Bridegroom coming to midnight, for whom the virgins look.

Wherever I open my Bible, I find my Lord in the book.

I wonder what you find when you open your Bible?

You see, because it's all about the Christ.

It's all about the Lord. He wants you to know Him.

In fact, He wants you to know Him so, so strongly that He put

into print His very words that describe Him completely.

And yet. And yet, we find ourselves so

busy doing other things, so occupied with frivolous things,

so preoccupied with things that really don't even matter,

instead of spending time studying the truth of the Word

of God. And then we wonder why our lives

are so meaningless. We wonder why our lives are so

fruitless. We wonder why our lives are just

as depressed and discouraged as possible, why our lives do not

flourish. It's because we don't know our

God. Because Daniel said in Daniel

1132 that those who know their God display strength and take

and do great exploits. Those who know their God display

strength and do great exploits, meaning that those who don't

know their God are unable to display any kind of strength,

nor are they able to do great exploits for God.

Very, very important to understand that.

So Christ says this is the importance of the law.

Don't think that I can do abolish it, throw it away,

nullify it, treat it as if it doesn't matter.

Oh, no, Oh no, I wrote it. I established the law of God.

The prophets endorsed the law of God or enforced it.

I'm here to endorse it. I'm here to fulfill it in every

single detail. And he did.

And when the and when the ceremonial law was fulfilled,

the the veil in the temple was torn in two, because access to

the holy of Holies was now, was now given to all men.

And all the all the rituals and all the ceremonies and all the

the symbols and all the pictures were all fulfilled in who

Christ, right? And now we have actual access

into his presence that had been barred from common man for

centuries. He abolished, he abolished

death. He abolished Satan's power over

you. But he didn't abolish the law.

He came to fulfill the law. He came to show that I am the

fulfillment of all that was said.

Every prophecy, every promise is rooted and Sinner than me.

I've come to fulfill all that. That's why he can speak with

such great authority, because he embodied the law.

Now think about this for a second.

Even though Christ fulfilled ceremonial law, which was a

priority of God's people, note that the priority of God's

people today is still to worship God and why we don't OfferUp the

blood of bulls and goats for sacrifice.

We present our bodies a living sacrifice, which is your

reasonable worship, your logical form of worship.

So even though he came to fulfill all ceremonial law,

don't think that we are not to worship by presenting our bodies

of living sacrifices to our God, because we want to worship Him

for who he is. And even though he came to

fulfill all judicial law, which were the guidelines and

governances by which Israel would would dress and diet and

and act and live to identify them as the people of God.

It doesn't mean it doesn't mean that we don't have certain

aspects about our lives as Christians that identify us as

the people of God. For even though he's not giving

us any rules on our dress or diet, he says this in 1st

Corinthians 1031. Whatever you do, whether you eat

or whether you drink, you do all to the glory of God.

Now he gave us no law on how to eat or what to drink, but he

says that when you do eat and you do drink, picking the most

mundane thing that we can ever do, eating and drinking, do all

to the glory of God. Why?

Because you need to identify yourself as the people of God.

Israel was God's chosen nation. We now as a church are God's

chosen people. We are a holy nation.

We are a royal priesthood, and therefore our identity is

wrapped up in our relationship with the living God.

Our priority is wrapped up in our relationship with the living

God because our purity and holiness is wrapped up in our

relationship with the living God.

He embodied the moral law of God.

He lived a perfect, sinless life.

So Christ says, don't even begin to think that I've come to

abolish the law. On the contrary, I've come to

raise the standard of the law. Because you see, you have

despised the law so much, you have downgraded the law so much.

You have, you have treated it as if it means nothing by

developing your own laws, thinking that you can keep them

and earn your way to heaven. Can't do that.

So I've come to lift the standard of the law.

That's why he would go into the next phrase.

You have heard that it was said by the ages of old you shall not

murder. And everybody in the crowd would

say Amen to that. We don't murder anybody.

Then Christ says, But I say unto you, if you hate your brother,

you are a murderer in your heart.

And they would be taken back. And then he would say, Oh, you

have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery.

And they would all say Amen to that.

We know we shouldn't be sleeping with somebody else's wife.

But then he says, But I say unto you, I say unto you, that if you

lust after a woman in your heart, you have already

committed adultery there, and they'd be taken back.

See, because the law of God is internal, not external, they had

relegated the law of God to everything on the external.

That's something they could do right, that everybody could see

and they could gain acceptance in everybody's eyes because they

could see them doing things. But the law of God is in the

heart of man that motivates him from the inside out to live for

the glory and honor of God. So Christ attacks the heart of a

man because he says, unless your righteousness succeeds, that of

the scribes of Pharisees, you're never going to enter the Kingdom

of heaven. Very, very important.

So Christ talks about the importance of the law.

They talk about the endurance of the law, the endurance of the

law. He says this in verse #18 For

truly I say to you, this is the statement, Until heaven and

earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall

pass in the law until all is accomplished.

Truly, truly I say unto you, Amen.

Amen. Absolutely, I say unto you.

Now that phrase is used 76 times at the beginning of a sentence

and 48 times at the end of a sentence.

All 76 times it's used at the beginning of the sentence.

It's Christ who is speaking. The other 48 times it's used at

the end of a sentence, it's not Christ who is speaking.

It's managed responding to what Christ has already said.

Very important to realize that. Why?

Because Christ says truly, truly, I say unto you,

absolutely, truly, I give to you.

I want you to know that at the very outset this is absolute

truth. He says very clearly these words

until heaven and earth. Pass away.

Not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law.

The span of time is until heaven on earth pass away.

Meaning they are going to pass away.

They do. They'll all be destroyed, every

one of them, all of them, all the heavens, the earth will all

pass away in a brief moment. Read about the second Peter

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, Revelation chapter 6, Revelation chapter 21 and 22.

Revelation 6 · chapter mention Revelation 21 · chapter mention

There'll be a new heaven and a new earth, right?

But until that day, not one jot, not one title shall pass away,

not the smallest stroke of the pin.

He is going down to the finest detail of of the Hebrew letters.

OK, not one jot, not the smallest letter like an

apostrophe, not one tiddle. What's a tiddle?

A tiddle is is that 1 little aspect that that distinguishes

an H from an N or an E from an FF has 2 lines.

E has three lines, an H has a longer extended line, and an N

has a a smaller line. Not, not one of those will pass

away. Every jot, every title, the

smallest letter, the smallest little squiggly mark, all of it

is offered by me and it's all perfect.

And it will not pass away until heaven and earth passes away.

When that happens, you won't need the Word of God anymore,

because you will have a perfect life in a perfect place called

heaven, worshipping the perfect God of the universe.

But to that time, my Word stands as the absolute authority,

without error, without any kind of discrepancy, because I

authored it and the prophets enforced it.

When I came, I fulfilled it. I endorsed it all.

This is God's view of Scripture. And then he moves from that just

the importance of law and the endurance of law, but to the

relevance of the law. Listen to what he says.

This is so good. Verse 19.

Whoever then knows one of the least of these commandments and

teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the

Kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches

them, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven.

Wow, He gives us the guiding principle of Christian conduct.

It's the word of God, the truth. Now he who a knows, or he who

nullifies. Or take Proverbs 1313, he who

despises the word of the Lord, right and teaches others to

despise the word of the Lord or to a know the word of the Lord

shall be leased in the Kingdom of heaven.

Doesn't mean you're going to be ousted out of the Kingdom of

heaven. Not at all because you're in the

Kingdom of heaven verses verse 20, which talks about getting

into the Kingdom, but we'll get to that in a second.

But he says, look, you can't look at the word of God and say

this. This doesn't apply to me.

This is not for me, treating it as if it's not important for you

to live by. And certainly you can't teach

other people that. That's why James 31 is so

important, right? Don't many of you seek to be

teachers? For with it comes a stricter

condemnation, right? If you could do anything in the

church, rather than teach, do that because it doesn't come

with a strict condemnation. You got to realize that when you

begin to open the Word of God and teach people the truth of

the Word of God, there comes a high accountability.

It doesn't mean though, that you should not teach the Word of God

as a father to your children or as a mother to your children,

because you should. But it also comes with high

accountability. You should teach them the truth

of the Word of God. Why?

Because if you're not doing that, you are the least in the

Kingdom, you're the least blessed in the Kingdom, You are

used the less in the Kingdom. But if you teach and keep the

word of God and teach others to do the same, you're the greatest

in the Kingdom, you're the highest in the Kingdom, you are

the most blessed in the Kingdom. Because you have feared the

commandment, you have revered the commandment, you have

respected the commandment, and you will be rewarded.

Proverbs 1313 And God will reward you tremendously because

you've highly valued his law, his revelation, so much so that

you want to impart it to other people.

Whether you're proclaiming the gospel, whether you're growing

someone in their walk with the Lord, you're helping to follow

Christ. You've taken His word, held at

high value. Thy Word, O Lord, is magnified

even as Thy very name. Psalm 138 verse #2 You are

lifting His name on high by lifting His Word on high.

And when you do that, it says that God Himself is honored.

And he who wants me, I will honor.

There was a great reward for those who are the greatest in

God's Kingdom because they teach and keep the Word of God.

So the relevance of the Word of God is simply, it is the guiding

principle for Christian conduct, but also it's the glorious

prelude to Christian conversion. Look what he says in verse 20,

For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses

that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter

the Kingdom of heaven. In verse 19, he's talking about

people in the Kingdom. Now he's talking about people

that are outside the Kingdom. And this is a marvelous

statement. It is the theme verse of the

Sermon on the Mount. Everything centers around this

verse unless your righteousness exceeds that.

It describes the Pharisees and the people on the on the North

Shore of the Sea of Galilee are sitting there thinking, wait a

minute, how how's that ever going to happen?

They are the most holiest people we've ever met and they've told

us so and we believe them. How can we have a righteousness

that exceeds their righteousness?

They are the ones who are close to God.

They are the ones who interpret the word of God.

Those are the ones who have to show us God.

But their righteousness was one of self righteousness.

It wasn't God, Christ righteousness, the righteousness

was was a self-serving works based system.

In fact, remember over in Luke chapter 18 when it says this the

Luke 18 · chapter mention

first number nine. He also told this parable to

some people who trusted in themselves that they were

righteous. That's the Pharisees and viewed

others with contempt. And he contrasts a a Pharisee

with with a tax collector. And it says that in verse 11,

the Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, wasn't

praying to God. He was praying thus to himself

because he was self-righteous. Whereas the tax gatherer

wouldn't Even so much as look up because he was so convicted of

his sinfulness. You see, we forget that the law

of God as stated by Paul in the book of Galatians, the law was

our schoolmaster to bring us into Christ that we might be

justified by faith. The law was never meant to show

you that you are righteous. The law was meant to show you

that you have no righteousness. You have no right to heaven.

It shows you your sin, how sinful you are.

That's why Christ goes on in verses 21 of following.

You have heard that it was said, but I say unto you, You've heard

that it was said, but I say unto you, I know that this is what

you've been taught, but you've been taught wrong.

I'm going to teach you that which is right and deals with

the heart of every individual there listening to the Sermon on

the Sermon on the Mount. How can one's righteousness

exceed that of the scribes and and Pharisees?

Paul said in Galatians chapter 2 verse #16 Knowing that a man is

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in

Christ Jesus. Even we have believed in Christ

Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and

not by works of the law, since by the works of the law no flesh

will be justified. Other words, they were doing all

these things as Pharisees, were they?

They had minimized the commands of God and maximized the

tradition of man so they could do something that would please

themselves, make them feel good about themselves, that somehow

this will get me into heaven. It's the workspace system.

It's what every religious system is based on, human achievement

that somehow I can earn my way to heaven, that somehow God will

be pleased with the way I I behave and the way I speak and

the things I do. But Christ's righteousness is

accomplished by Christ. He does all the work.

You're justified by faith. You you believe in what he says.

Christ is that unless your righteousness exceeds that of

the self-righteous Pharisee, the works based Pharisee, you will

never enter the Kingdom of heaven.

It must be a righteousness not of your own doing.

It must be my righteousness. That's why he knew no sin became

sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in

him. It's Christ who did it, and so

he's presenting the gospel by helping them understand that you

can't get to heaven. You can't earn your way there.

You can't make it on your own. You can't devalue the word of

God and think that it's going to get you in heaven because you

can do enough good things, because you can't.

The standard is Matthew 548 be ye perfect for your Father in

heaven is perfect. That's the standard.

Nobody reaches that standard. You can't for all of sin and

fall short of the standard of God, the glory of God, the

perfection of God, the righteousness of God, all of

sinned and fallen short of that. But they refused to believe

that. And even when it was all said

and done, and Christ would show them their unrighteousness as

opposed to His righteousness, when Jesus had finished these

words, Matthew 728, the crowds were amazed at His teaching.

Amazed at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one having

authority and not as their scribes.

They were amazed, but nobody was converted, nobody came to saving

faith. Nobody believed the greatest

sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher.

Whoever lived saw zero converts. Wow.

Oh, they were amazed, but they were not convicted of their sin.

That astonishes me because when I read this, I am extremely

convicted about my sin. But I also realize that God's

law is everything. It's that which makes the man

who he needs to be. It's the inspired word of God.

My challenge to you and to me is that the book we hold in our

hand, we call the Bible, These 66 books, this law will never

pass away until heaven on earth pass away.

That's down the road a little bit, but to that time,

everything in this book speaks to us about the Christ,

identifies him to us, explains him to us, shows us that he is

the fulfilment of everything spoken in the Old Testament now

made manifest in the New Testament.

He is the God of truth, the God of the Book.

He can be counted on. He is faithful, He is true.

And I challenge those of you tonight who do not know the Lord

that there's no way you're going to make it to heaven on your

own. Can't do it.

It's not by works of righteousness, which we have

done. It's by the washing of

regeneration, by the renewing of the Spirit of God.

It's for a grace you save through faith that not of

yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of

works, lest any man should boast.

And so if you've never given your life to Christ, don't

despise His Word any longer. Don't disregard His Word any

longer. Don't disrespect His Word any

longer. Don't become disgusted with His

Word any longer because you will be in debt to that Word because

God has given Him the Word to judge every single man and woman

who lives. Instead, Revere the commandment,

respect the commandment, and you will be rewarded.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for

tonight. Thank you for this opportunity.

Lord, I pray that your word would speak to all of us and

that Lord, you would really challenge every one of us to

live for the glory of your name. Thank you for Your word.

Thank you for your view on the Word of God.

May we have that same view that we might truly follow and serve

the true and living God. We thank you Lord, in Jesus

name, Amen.